


When the Minutes Drag

by Morgan_Stuart



Category: Sherlock (TV)
Genre: 221B Ficlet, Abduction, Angst, Gen, Implied Violence, Possible Character Death, Torture
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-09-29
Updated: 2011-09-29
Packaged: 2017-10-24 04:00:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/258751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Morgan_Stuart/pseuds/Morgan_Stuart
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>All Sherlock has now is time.</p>
            </blockquote>





	When the Minutes Drag

**Author's Note:**

> This is a variation on a favourite theme, written to provide a bit more horror for the seasonal "Fall Back into Sherlock" fest.
> 
> This is a 221b ficlet: 221 words, with the last word beginning with a "b."
> 
> This universe does not belong to me; I'm just an appreciative visitor. I make no profit from this fan work.

Sherlock was engrossed in his experiment when John said goodbye and left to join Lestrade for a pint.

In retrospect, Sherlock couldn't be certain if he'd offered even a nod in reply.

Once the chemicals in his test tubes had surrendered their mysteries, Sherlock began to feel the drag of each empty second.

With autumn's arrival, the nights were growing longer, John liked to say. This one became interminable.

By 3:07 a.m., twenty-three texts to John and twenty-one to Lestrade had gone unanswered.

At 5:19 a.m., Sherlock received a URL texted by an unknown sender. The webpage contained an embedded video.

At 5:22 a.m., a second text: "What did I do to your DI?"

The silent film ran for one hour and seventeen minutes. Not once did it show Lestrade.

Instead, the camera focused on John, bound and struggling hard, absorbed by events off-screen.

Sherlock observed every detail of John's haggard features. Twisted in rage. Blank in horror. Stony in anguish, tears tracing the curves and hollows of stubbled cheeks.

He read the words from John's lips. The furious, "No!" The desperate, "He'll _die_ if you don't stop _now_." The broken, "No more. Please."

Finally, the unblinkingly certain, "You're a dead man. If I don't kill you, Sherlock will."

At 6:40 a.m., the film and Sherlock's world both faded to black.

  
THE END

**Author's Note:**

> Vital Stats: Originally written in September 2011.
> 
> Originally written for the prompt "The nights are getting longer" at the "Fall Back into Sherlock" Fest at the Sherlockmas Livejournal community.


End file.
